As the UK democratically voted for a Brexit, the consequences for higher education and research are not clear. This, unfortunately, places doctoral candidates and junior researchers in the United Kingdom in a potentially vague situation. Especially those early career researchers that rely on European funding as well as continental European early career researchers working in the United Kingdom. As of now, we acknowledge that the article 50 procedure hasn’t been initiated and the current status quo hasn’t been altered as of yet, when the United Kingdom does take this step to leave the European Union a new challenge for academia might arise.  As Eurodoc, an organisation that supports the interests of doctoral candidates and junior researchers across Europe, we see this as a serious problem in need of a remedy. The position of early career researchers needs to be made clear and protected in the event of Brexit. We argue that Brexit should not result in a loss of quality and opportunity for early career researchers. As Eurodoc, we hope our equals in the United Kingdom will not be limited in their pursuit of truth and knowledge. With this, we refer to the lifting of barriers as proposed by the European Research Area (ERA) and the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We hope that the Brexit does not restrict the mobility and potential scientific collaboration across Europe, as Eurodoc envisions a ERA and EHEA policies where all researchers are duly recognised for their contributions. We exclaim our belief in a transparent form of academia with open access to all those who, in the words of Sir Isaac Newton, believe in the notion: “standing on the shoulders of giants.”

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